LUKE 4:14-30

                             Figure I: The Literary Structure of Luke 3-4

A. John’s ministry (3:1-18)

B. Herod’s opposition (3:19-20)

C. The sign at Jesus’ baptism (3:21-22)

                                    C'. The sign of Jesus’ genealogy (3:23-38)

B'. Satan’s opposition (4:1-15)

A'. Jesus’ ministry (4:16-30)

(a) The key verb “preach” appears in this unit only in A (3:3) and A' (4:18-19).

(b) John’s last words in Section A correspond to Jesus’ first words in A' in that they both associate Jesus with the Holy Spirit.

Sections A (3:4-6) and A' (4:18-21) teach that salvation has arrived in the person of Jesus. These units both contain quotations identified as from Isaiah the prophet as well as the word “release,” occurring only twice elsewhere in the Gospel.

                                          Figure II: The Structure of Luke 4:14-30

1. Jesus returned to Galilee (14a)

        2. filled with the power of the Spirit, taught in the synagogues (14b)

                3. and was praised for his teaching (15)

                        4. teachings at Nazareth synagogue: Part 1 (16-21)

                            a. and stood up (16)

                                b. He unrolled the scroll (17)

                                        c. and read from Isaiah (18-19)

                                b'. He rolled up the scroll (20a)

                            a'. and sat (20b)

                                        c'. and interpreted the prophecy (21)

                3'. All spoke well of him (22a)

                        4'. teachings at Nazareth synagogue: Part 2 (22b-27)

                                a. They said (22b)

                                        b. He said (23a)

                                a'. You will say (23b)

                                        b'. He said (24)

                                                (1) Elijah example (25-26)

                                                (1') Elisha example (27)

        2'. When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage (28)

                3'. and they tried to kill him (28-29a)

1.' but Jesus passed through them and went on his way (29b-30)

The dual center of this literary composition lies in Jesus' words in sections 4 and 4' to those in the synagogue. This two-part sermon of Jesus reminds me powerfully of another story that Luke tells in his two-part history, namely, the teaching of Stephen to the high priest and council narrated at length in Acts 6-8. Matthews says, “Elements of Stephen's trial and death reflect the passion of Jesus.” However, I feel that the echoes in Acts there are just as strong with the elements of Luke 14:

Both speakers' words to the Jewish audience can be broken down into two parts. Part 1 of Jesus' speech reveals that He is the predicted Messiah while Part 2 characterizes the Jews as unbelievers compared to their Gentile counterparts. These same two points are treated in the reverse order in Acts as Stephen first rehearses in detail the many examples of prior disobedience of the Jews to the word of God and then follows this by the revelation that Jesus the Messiah they crucified is now at God's right hand.

The major difference in the two incidents is that although both speakers are taken out to be stoned to death for blasphemy, Stephen is martyred while Jesus escapes only to be crucified years later.